1000-year-old Buddha statue is actually a mummified man

The Chinese statue of a buddha has been found to contain the mummified body of a monk

Photo of the statue and the CT scan. (Picture Courtesy: Drent's Museum)

Using CT-scans, researchers at the Netherlands-based Drents Museum imaged a mummified monk who lived 1,000 years ago inside a Buddha statue.

His organs were removed prior to becoming encased, which isn’t a surprise being a standard mummification practice. What was surprising however were the rolls of paper scraps covered in Chinese writing which were placed where the organs used to sit.

According to the Mirror.co.uk, the mummy is on display at an exhibition at Drents Museum in the Netherlands. Rncased inside the golden cast the body belonged to master Liuquan, a monk who lived around the year 1100 and was a member of the Chinese Meditation School.